The constraints that caregiving, particularly motherhood, place on women in the working world are familiar and well-known, but there’s another factor to consider as well. Recent research shows that mothers who have used subsidized child care in Quebec enjoy substantially increased long-term earnings and greater career advancement. The results, while interesting, are unsurprising.

But there’s a problem when governments pay too much attention to financial metrics in devising family policy. There is more than money or advancement at stake. Canadian families can end up with programs that do not serve their needs.  

This is happening with Canada’s new child-care program, which is designed largely through an economic lens. Caregiving obligations, which disproportionately fall to women, are viewed by governments as impeding economic production. This idea leads to universal daycare programs that are crafted to encourage participation in the labour force, particularly among mothers of young children. 

These programs encourage mothers to work by making a particular way of organizing economic life more feasible. Universal daycare assumes a standard way of raising children and organizing family life. Families whose care and employment choices sync with these assumptions benefit. But not all families share the same priorities or make the same decisions about how best to organize caregiving and work.

Economic goals are shaping child-care........

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